Jeff Davis wrote:
> >Call me a cynic, but I just don't see it happening.
> >Cheney, Powell, Rumsfeld, Ashcroft, Bush--they're all
> >intelligent enough to see the possibilities in a
> >"meta-Ghandian" approach. And despite my left-wing
> >political bias, I don't really believe that they are
> >so coldly reptilian that they don't care about the
> >welfare of the Afghan innocents. Just reptilian
> >enough so that it can't happen.
At first glance a Ghandian approach may have the taste of "deep 20 th
century". It may remind you of a remote peaceful hippy resistance and sound
awkward to our future loving ears but it could be successfull in a
country that is far away from 21th century way of life. Choosing the
humanitarian raisin bomber option may cause laughter, but even if the
Taliban fascists steal some of the food and clothes away from the poor, they
cannot take it all, there should be enough hidden raisin bomb craters left.
and Joe Dees answered:
>This analysis seems to proceed as if THE LUCIFER PRINCIPLE was never
>written; such largesse, reminding the recipients about who is currently on
>top in the pecking order, engenders jealousy, resentment and envy, not
>gratitude. It is likely that such a move could be counterproductive, and
>cause even more children (even if the same percentage indulged in the
>practice but more survived) to be programmed, by their parents, mullahs and
>teachers, to become faith-based missiles of sui/homicidal martyrdom,
>directed against those who, by means of such largesse, had incindiarily
>humiliated the programmers.
Even if it seems counterproductive right now and even if more children
might develop the way you describe it, there should be a force
who shows mercy first. You cannot expect anything from a people that is so
badly suppressed like the Afghan poor. A couple of days ago I saw a BBC
report by an Afghan born British journalist. She secretly filmed daily
live in Afghanistan in June 2001. It`s breaking your heart. Besides children
dying of starvation, men, women and children being slaughtered in villages
where bases of the Northern alliance fighters are suspected, it is the
permanent suppression that makes you sick. No woman is allowed to work and
every girl at the age of 12 must definitely quit classes in school. Friday
afternoon a blood thirsty crowd gathers in a football stadium, built from
international funds, and watches thiefs being hanged on the goal posts and a
woman accused of adultery being shot kneeling down at the penalty line of
the footbal field, men whose throats are cut, kneeling down there, too. And
the people are watching - it`s Friday afternoon - and yelling with
approval. And all these scenes were secretely filmed. This is real. What a
brutalization. They must see some signs that man can feel and act different.
humania
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Fri Oct 12 2001 - 14:40:57 MDT